Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Terrible Tim: Expletives not Deleted

This was not going to be "pick on Team Obama" night (see post below); in fact, it was going to be a quiet go-to-bed-early night, but two L. A. Times articles (below, and this) were too important to pass up posting on.It turns out that Econblog Review, which yelled from day one against Mr. Geithner's nomination to be Treasury Secretary, not only is a tool of the Street but also appears to be a foul-mouthed, bullying lout.Per the L. A. Times, quoting the WSJ, in Geithner to regulators: 'Stop your (expletive) turf wars':

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner launched an "expletive-laced" tirade against top U.S. financial regulators in a meeting on Friday, demanding that they halt their turf battles over the administration’s proposed regulatory overhaul, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Frustration apparently has been building in the White House as individual regulators have publicly voiced objections to parts of the plan, including giving the Federal Reserve more oversight of the financial system and creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to police lending products.

The regulators’ pushback could pose a threat to any overhaul by giving House and Senate leaders ammunition to challenge the plan.From the Journal’s website:

Mr. Geithner told the regulators Friday that "enough is enough," said one person familiar with the meeting. Mr. Geithner said regulators had been given a chance to air their concerns, but that it was time to stop, this person said.Among those gathered in the Treasury conference room were Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair.

Friday's roughly hourlong meeting was described as unusual, not only because of Mr. Geithner's repeated use of obscenities, but because of the aggressive posture he took with officials from federal agencies generally considered independent of the White House. Mr. Geithner reminded attendees that the administration and Congress set policy, not the regulatory agencies.

Neal Wolin, Treasury's deputy secretary, told the Journal that Geithner wanted to make sure that turf battles didn’t get in the way of fixing a system that badly needed an overhaul.

Wolin wouldn’t comment on Geithner's tone or language, the Journal said.Of course, unsaid by Mr. Wolin is that Treasury's plan for financial system "reform" was essentially written by the G30, which has been headed of late by an AIG V.P. This is "reform" without the reform. It's definitely not worth cursing and bullying about. Will this story hurt the Geithner career path?